A Birthday Present for AStormIsBrwing
by Liooness
Summary: My first attampt at songfics for a belated birthday to AStormIsBrewing. Ther's not enough Country out there, so here it is. Happy Birthday!
1. Beaches of Cheyenne

A/N: Belated Birthday present for my good friend, AStormIsBrewing

A/N: Belated Birthday present for my good friend, AStormIsBrewing. Happy Birthday! And I hope you don't mind that I used your character from the Lu Ten Saga. )

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or Beaches of Cheyenne by Garth Brooks

Dr. Lin had waited for news from Ba Sing Sae for a month while she worked on returning soldiers. Many had lost legs, arms or eyes to the terrible earth benders while fighting the barbarians to spread the peace and prosperity of the Fire Nation. The siege of the great walled city had lasted nearly a year and she had had many letters from Prince Lu Ten in that time. Her prince.

_They packed up all his buckles  
And shipped his saddle to his dad  
And by the way the house looked  
She must have took it bad.  
The workers come on monday  
To fix the door and patch the wall.  
They say she just went crazy  
The night she got the call._

In the last letter, he had told her that he was weary of war, tired of the constant battling, killing and barely surviving. How so many of his comrades and friends had died next to him, and that he was barely hanging on, despair taking hold of him. He was even questioning the need for war, and why they needed to fight the other nations. He told of how he longed to be home, with her, with his family and make a home with her. To leave everything behind, his title, her work and find their own way away from the war torn world.

_He was up in wyoming  
And drew a bull no man could ride.  
He promised her he__'d turn out  
Well it turned out that he lied.  
And their dreams that they'd been living  
In the california sand  
Died right there beside him in cheyenne._

She had been furious and sent a quick retort back, saying that it was his own father and grandfather that had led him to that point, that marvelous point of being a commander under his father, the great General Iroh. And that he was going to be able to see the fall of the Earth Kingdom firsthand. And it was for them and his country that he was fighting. He should have been as proud as his comrades were proud to fight and die for what they knew to be right. He should be proud to die for his country as well.

_They__ say she just went crazy  
Screaming out his name  
She ran out into the ocean  
And to this day they claim  
That if you go down by the water  
You'll see her footprints in the sand  
cause every night she walks the beaches of cheyenne_

Lin was now sorry she had sent the letter. There had been no reply from Lu Ten in the past two weeks, which had been more than enough time for two replies. After she finished her shift and said her goodbyes to the nurses and several of her patients, she went to the beach and stared out to the east as the sun started to set behind the dormant volcano behind her. After a few minutes of staring at the darkening sky, she heard someone running down the beach towards her. Rising, she turned and saw an intern nurse running towards her with a scroll in her hand. Lin took the scroll and waited until the intern had disappeared back to the hospital before unrolling the scroll and reading it. Her hands shook as she read the letter before dropping it into the sand and running into the waves.

_They never found her body  
Just her diary by her bed  
It told about the fight they had  
And the words that she had said.  
When he told her he was ridin__g  
She said then I don't give a damn  
If you never come back from cheyenne._

Dr. Lin never returned from the beach. When she was reported missing, a search was made, but only the letter was found in the sand from where the intern had last seen her. The magistrate read the letter as he walked back to the doctors' apartment. Everywhere were letters to and from Prince Lu Ten, recently killed in the siege of Ba Sing Sae. As the magistrate looked at the stack of letters on the doctors' desk, he even found plans for a house and possibly a wedding, sanctioned of course by the also recently deceased Fire Lord Azulon.

_Nobody can explain it  
Some say she__'s still alive  
They even claim they've seen her  
On the shoreline late at night.  
So if you go down by the water  
You'll see her footprints in the sand  
cause every night she walks the beaches of cheyenne.  
_

Puzzling out what could have happened to the promising doctor, Magistrate Chin Sang returned to the beach as the sun set. Shockingly there were footprints in the sand. They were small, in the shape of doctor's boots and walked to where he had found the letter. Then the footprints were running into the ocean. The footprints had not been there when he had found the letter at noon, but they were there now. The magistrate opened up the letter he had found there and read it again. Inside the scroll was a simple letter written by the prince. It said goodbye and I love you, and also that Doctor Lin had been right. He was proud. Along with the simple love note was a letter saying that the prince had died at the siege of Ba Sing Sae. Magistrate Chin Sang looked out at the ocean. It was simple. The doctor had followed her prince to the spirit world, but it looked as if her spirit would never rest because of her last letter.

_  
Every night she walks the beaches of cheyenne._


	2. So Small

A/N: Second in the B-day list to AStormIsBrewing

A/N: Second in the B-day list to AStormIsBrewing! Happy Birthday and Congrats on school being over!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or So Small by Carrie Underwood

He had watched the prince grow from a baby to a young boy. And then he had left and returned to find a confused young man who had lost the only source of love he had. As the boy's uncle, he had taken the troubled youth under his wing and tried to teach the boy.

_What you got if you aint got love?  
The kind that you just wanna give away  
It's okay to open up  
Go ahead and let the light shine through  
I know it's hard on a rainy day  
You wanna shut the world out  
And just be left alone  
Don't run out on your faith_

The boy grew to a teen and soaked up his teachings and tried to emulate both his father and his uncle. But when the teen had spoken truly, but out of turn, his own father had scarred and banished him. He had followed the boy, to continue his teaching and to show his only loving relative that there was hope. There was a chance for a real life, not the one his tyrannical brother had impressed on the boy. Now the teen was searching for the impossible, to gain a father's love that was never there, and missing the uncle who loved him like a son.

_Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing  
Is just a grain of sand  
What you've been out there searching for forever,  
Is in your hands  
When you figure out love is all that matters, after all  
It sure makes everything else  
Seem so small_

He had been devastated when the teen had turned against all he had taught him in the depths of the great earth city. The city of walls had given him much grief, and now came the final blow. It had almost killed him when he had lost his own son to the city of walls, but now his second son, the adopted son of his heart had turned against him and gone against all that he had taught him. And against the teens' own heart as well by the look in the youths' eyes.

_It's so easy to get lost inside  
A problem that seems so big, at the time  
It's like a river that's so wide  
It swallows you whole  
While you're sittin round thinking about what you can't change  
And worryin' about all the wrong things  
Time's flying by, moving so fast  
You better make it count, cause you can't get it back_

When they had returned home, he to defeat and imprisonment and his nephew to everything the teen had wanted, the troubled youth was still not satisfied. As he knew the teen would be. The youth was angry and did not understand it. And still the boy sought him out, even though it could cost them both their lives. Slowly he had worked on the troubled teen, bringing the boy to search inside himself and revealing his heritage to him. The boy was coming around, but too slowly. He had to make his move soon, and if his adopted son was with him, all the better. If not, then all his years of teaching had been in vain. And he had truly lost his sons to the war, both of them.

_Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing  
Is just a grain of sand  
What you've been out there searching for forever  
Is in your hands  
Oh, When you figure out love is all that matters after all  
It sure makes everything else  
Seem so small_

It had been a few weeks since the eclipse and his escape, and he had been sad to leave his beloved nephew behind. But he was now proud as he watched his nephew bond with some new friends. The troubled youth had finally listened to his teachings and put them to use. He had left the mongrel that was his father and was now teaching the Avatar the art of firebending and making up for past sins. The sins of his father, grandfather and great grandfather by following the teachings if his uncle and adopted father. He watched as the prince laughed and attempted to joke with his newfound friends. He knew he would have to reveal himself to the teens soon, but not yet. He enjoyed watching his nephew become a man with a loving heart. The man he knew Zuko could always be, and Iroh couldn't love his nephew any more.

_Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing  
Is just a grain of sand  
What you've been out there searchin for forever  
Is in your hands  
Oh, When you figure out love is all that matters after all  
It sure makes everything else  
Oh it sure makes everything else  
Seem so small_


	3. Tennessee

A/N: And final in the B-day present to Storm is a zutara

A/N: And final in the B-day present to Storm is a zutara. For all my usual readers (kataang people), I advise you do not read unless you accept al shippings like I do. Happy Birthday agaian!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or Tennessee by Sugarland

Zuko sat and watched her as she practiced her waterbending with Aang. She was beautiful, even if she did hate his guts. He cold only watch her out of the corner of his eye. The last time she had caught him looking at her, he had been frozen in a block of ice while he was sleeping. The prince sighed as the small earthbender sat next to him, munching on an apple.

"Why so glum Princess?" she asked him.

Zuko sent a glare at her, only to remember that she couldn't see it. He sighed again and turned back to watching the waterbender flow from one movement to the next, beautiful and graceful as her element. Deadly as her element as well as he caught her glance his way and frown before turning back to smile at the Avatar.

"I can help you," Toph said in a teasing voice.

The prince frowned and turned away from Toph. She had punished him extensively for burning her feet, but had been the first to seek him out and make him open up to her. She knew how he felt about the waterbender.

"Why?" Zuko asked her, trying to find a hidden agenda. He knew Toph had one, she was too cunning not to.

The earthbender just smirked. "It'll be fun," was all she said before rising and walking into the temple.

Sighing, Zuko rose and followed her. He knew she would help, and he would be at her whim. With a quick glance back at the beautiful waterbender, he started to smile. But perhaps Toph's punishment would be worth it.

_It ain't often I take time to answer calls on the request line  
But this one says that we're his best last chance  
So all you people in radio land, turn it up loud, loud as you can  
Help to carry these words of a desperate man_

Zuko felt stupid doing this, but he had to try. And Toph wouldn't let him back out. The prince straightened his shirt once more and arranged the simple bouquet again, making sure the panda lilies were in the center. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on Katara's door.

"Who is it?" he heard her sweet voice say from inside.

"It's Zuko. Can I talk to you?"

He heard her stomp towards the door and suddenly he was face to face with a blue eyed, fury filled siren. She glared at him and her eyes narrowed as she waited.

"Well?!" she snapped.

"Here," Zuko said, pushing the flowers into her hand. "I just wanted to give these to you. To say I'm sorry."

She dropped the flowers and continued to glare at him. "I don't accept."

With that, she turned and slammed the door in his face. Letting his shoulders sag, Zuko retreated to his own room, unaware that once he had left, Katara opened her door again and picked up one of the panda lilies, holding it close to her and looking in the direction of his room.

_Do you believe in love and that we were meant to be?  
Two words can free us, so repeat them after me  
"I do." from a boy in love to a girl called Tennessee  
_

"How can I do it?" Zuko yelled at the small earthbender as he paced and turned to her again. "Everything I do she shoots down! She hates me even more because of it! If you don't tell me something that will work, I'll kill you, before she kills me!"

Toph just continued to smirk up into Zuko's face as he ranted. She waited until he had stopped before she started grinning.

"Relax, Hothead. This time I've got it. All you need to do is get injured."

Zuko stood tall and glared down at the small earthbender. "And how do I do that?"

"Like this," Toph said as she kicked a boulder out of the ground and hurled it at the prince.

_  
It's always scary when you find true love  
Hits like lightning from high above  
You might only get one chance to say  
_

Zuko was on the edge of unconsciousness as he landed on his back next to the fountain. He struggled to rise, but fell back again. Suddenly he felt a cool balmy feeling on his sore ribs and heard yelling.

"What did you do Toph?!" Katara screamed.

"He had it coming. He even asked for it," the earthbender's smug voice came as Zuko struggled to open his eyes.

"Don't get up," Katara said, this time soft and soothing and close to his face.

He opened his eyes and saw Katara's blue eyes looking into his own, her eyes innocent and full of hope, not hate.

"Don't get up yet," she told him again, this time more sternly, but he saw a small smile tugging at her mouth.

Zuko nodded and let her heal him.

"You know, you didn't have to get hurt to get my attention," she said as she finished healing him. "Now, no more playing with Toph."

With a small smile, she rose and walked away from him as he stared in disbelief at her back. She turned back and smiled once more as Toph walked up to him and held her hand out to him. Taking the small girls' hand, Zuko was hauled to his feet by earthbending.

"There, I did my part. Now it's all you," Toph told him, smirking again before turning to walk over to Aang for training.

_  
Do you believe in love and that we were meant to be?  
Two words can free us, so repeat them after me  
"I do." from a boy in love to a girl called Tennessee_

Zuko waited until that night before seeking out the waterbender again. He found her practicing at the fountain while the others went to bed. Holding a single rose like a love struck komodo bull, he watched her bend the water around her gracefully. She was beautiful, her movements flowing from one form to the next effortlessly. She turned and stopped suddenly, seeing him in the shadows.

"Yes?" she asked him, turning to him and placing a hand on her hip.

Zuko felt his throat go dry as he thought how gorgeous she looked in the moonlight with her hair flowing over her shoulder and her blue eyes glowing.

"Well? Are you just going to stand there and stare or did you want something?" she asked, her eyes narrowing seductively, a small smile tugging at her lips.

He knew in that moment he wasn't worthy of her. He had hurt her so many times. Could he bear to hurt her again? He walked up to her and held out the rose. She looked shocked, but took the rose.

"A thank you," he told her softly. "And a reminder that I'll leave you alone. I'm sorry I ever hurt you, and I promise I won't hurt you again."

With that the prince used every last bit of willpower to turn away from Katara and walk back to his room. He lay down on his bed and watched the stars outside of the window, knowing he did the right thing. But if he did the right thing, why did he hurt so much?

_  
He got scared and let her slip away  
Now he knows he's not afraid  
I'll put him on the air in case she's listening somewhere  
_

Zuko stayed away from Katara for the next few days, avoiding her if at all possible. The only interaction he had with her was at meals and then he was silent, brooding. Aang and Sokka tried to get him to talk about it during training and sparring, but he remained silent. Toph pushed and prodded the firebender, but to no avail. And Katara stole glances at him, trying to catch his eye and wanting to say something, but didn't know what.

Finally Toph cornered him while he was on the plateau above the temple, meditating. Zuko tried to ignore her as she sat behind him, but the earthbender started flinging pebbles at his head.

"What?!" Zuko finally roared, turning to the earthbender with flame covered fists.

"Finally," Toph sighed.

"What?" the prince asked, perplexed as Toph just stayed seated and smiled up at him with her smug, knowing smile before that turned into a scowl.

"I finally get it through your thick skull that you can get her attention and that she could like you, and what do you do? You blow it! You stood up to her and you blew it, again! Did you ever once think she might like you too? Idiot dunderhead of a jerkbender!"

She had stood as she yelled at him and had risen up on an earthen platform until her misty green eyes were on the same level as his golden eyes, her finger pointing into his chest.

"I blew it!" he yelled back at her. "How could _I_ blow it?! They were your ideas! And she…she likes me?"

"Duh!" Toph said, rolling her eyes.

Zuko just stared at her in disbelief.

"Finally I get through your thick skull. Are you sure your mom wasn't an earthbender?" Toph asked him, smirking.

Zuko relaxed and smirked back. "I'm sure. So what now?"

"Simple, tell her how you feel."

_  
Take it to heart, keep in mind  
Try to reach out through the telephone line  
Caller you're on the air, say it so she hears_

Zuko continued to avoid the waterbender throughout that day and into the next. He knew what he had to do, but finding the right time and words was hard. As he was mediating on the plateau, he heard someone approach him from behind. Thinking it was the earthbender there to goad him again, he said two words.

"Go. Away," he growled.

"No," he heard Katara say. "Not until you tell me what's going on."

The prince rose and turned in one fluid motion and watched the waterbender warily as she watched him. Her hands were on her hips and her and a frown was on her face. But her eyes showed hurt and confusion.

"I can't," he told her.

"Why not?"

"Because I just can't!" he yelled, turning away from her again.

"No. You will tell me. I know something's been going on, and then you looked so sad when you gave me the rose. Please Zuko, just…just talk to me."

Her voice was so full of anguish, pain and confusion. Suddenly her hand was on his shoulder.

"I don't want to hurt you again," he whispered. "And I know I will."

"And I'll hurt you if you don't turn around and face me," she said smugly.

Zuko turned and saw her smiling up into his face. She placed a hand over his scar as she had done in the crystal catacombs.

"Now, Toph told me you had something to tell me. What?"

He looked into her eyes and found his strength. Smiling, he bent towards her.

"I've never been known to back down from a challenge. And the challenge I almost backed down from was you."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, backing away slightly as his face inched closer to her.

"This," he replied and quickly moved forward and captured her lips with his own.

She was surprised, but quickly started kissing him back, her arms moving to wrap around his neck as his wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to his body. They moved closer to each other until they heard Toph let out a wolf whistle.

Katara quickly backed away from Zuko, but he caught her wrists. She looked into his eyes, questioning him with her blue eyes.

"I like you. I think it may be more, but…I think we're meant to be. Please…can we start again?"

He pleaded with his golden eyes as he locked his gaze with hers. She looked intently into his eyes, searching for something, and finally smiled.

"No," she said finally. "I don't want to start again. I want to continue."

And with that she stepped up to him and kissed him passionately, not caring as Toph let out another wolf whistle.

_Do you believe in love and that we were meant to be?  
Two words can free us, so repeat them after me  
"I do." from a boy in love to a girl called Tennessee_


End file.
